Moving Trends | Move Smart in 2017

Lots of people move each year! But exactly how many? When and why do they decide to relocate in the first place? In order to find the answers, we need to analyze some stats. Here are some insights we were able to pull from the last year, which can be useful in preparation for 2017.

While May is considered as the official start of the peak season, the entire summer consistently remains the most hectic time for movers. According to a recent study, over half of the moves (61.56%) were done during the months of May through September.

For the fifth year in a row, MyMovingReviews published intriguing data about moving and real estate trends. Using metrics from previous years, this year’s summary infographic illustrates how trends in the moving industry change.

They covered information such as the most popular cities Americans move to, the average cost of a move, busiest moving days of the year, migration flows, and tons of other intriguing observations. For example, did you know that the majority of people who have requested a moving quote online have relocated locally – actually more than 60%? Let’s take a look at these relocation insights.

The Anatomy Of A Move

In 2016, the percentage of Americans moving over a one-year period plummeted to an all time low in the United States. It went down to a staggering 11.2%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. People in the United States are still moving, just not to the same extent as they did in the past.

Among those who moved, 42.2% said they moved due to housing, such as wanting a new and a better home. In comparison, 27.4% stated they moved for a family-related reason, while 20.2% did so for employment reasons. Finally, 10.2% answered they moved for some other reason.

According to MyMove.com’s Consumer Insights Study, which surveyed 8,000 consumers – including 6,300 who had either moved homes within the last twelve months or are planning to move within the next twelve months – a new job or transfer is consistently among the top five reasons that people move. About half of them relocated to another state, or out of the country.

Schedule Your Moving On Time

Choosing the right day to move matters more than you might think. Things haven’t changed much when it comes to picking a moving day. Friday is the busiest day in the industry – 19.45%. Logically, majority of people prefer Friday. That way, they have the whole weekend to unpack and be prepared for the upcoming work week.

Monday and Thursday are good days to move. Most people are working and there are fewer reservations meaning that companies lower the price to try to entice people to move on the days they have less business. If you can move on one of these days rather than the weekend you’ll save yourself some money.

The best days to move are Tuesday and Wednesday. The middle of the week is the best time to move as it’s the days that moving companies have the lowest amount of reservations. This also means that you’ll have the best chance of getting a reservation and at the lowest price. While it’s not the most convenient day it is the best day.

The worst days of the week to move are on weekends (Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays). The reason: most people tend to move on weekends when they are not working. That means movers already have plenty of reservations on those days, so you’ll have a difficult time reserving a moving truck and moving supplies. Even if you make the reservation ahead of time you’ll be paying more than you would on other days.

Two busiest days in the moving industry last year were June 30th and August 1st. Everyone just loves those summer days.

Last year, there was an increase in the moves during the spring and early fall. That’s quite interesting, because the number of moves in the summer season decreased compared to 2015.

However, summer still accounts for the largest amount of moves during the year and it turns out that more Americans have decided to postpone their moves for the fall or move before the busy season.

Percentage of busiest months for moving: June – 13.91%; July – 12.60%; August – 11.39%; May – 10.15%; September – 8.58%; October –8.08%; April – 8.00%; March – 7.17%; November – 6.64%; February – 5.91%; January – 4.25%; December – 3.31%

Fun Fact

It turns out that the size of the moving furniture has increased over the year, which is definitely good for businesses. There has been a decline of almost 14% in 1-bedroom moves, whereas there has been an increase in 2-, 3-, and 4-bedroom ones. People are moving furniture into their new homes and are looking for bigger real estate properties to buy. Furthermore, more people have looked for a professional mover to just move single items in 2016.1 Bedroom – 25.10%, 2 Bedrooms – 23.35%, 3 Bedrooms – 16.84% , 4+ Bedrooms – 10.10%

Moving Trend For Job Relocation – South Dakota

United Van Lines did their 40th Annual National Movers Study that showed South Dakota’s inbound popularity outpaced all other states in 2016, with nearly 68% of moves being inbound. The state has been climbing the ranks in recent years, increasing inbound migration by 23% over the past five years..

The state, which has seen a 23% increase in people moving to it in the last five years, took the No. 1 spot for the first time, beating Oregon, which had been in the top place for the past three years. South Dakota also attracted those looking to live closer to their family and retire. The study based its findings on states’ inbound and outbound percentages compared to total moves the company handles. Of the people moving to South Dakota, 60% came for jobs. The top inbound states after South Dakota were Vermont, Oregon, Idaho, South Carolina, Washington state, then Washington, D.C., North Carolina, Nevada and Arizona.

Moving Holiday in Canada – 1st of July

Every July 1st, the streets of Montreal and other Quebec cities fill up with moving vans, pickup trucks, vans, and even bikes that are loaded with the contents of apartments. Thousands of people move that day in Quebec, in what is a strange mix of collective social solidarity, organized madness and epic comedy. Passage down some smaller residential streets becomes near impossible as moving trucks and vans jockey for limited parking spots and even end up on lawns and sidewalks.

Moving Day is a boon and a headache for commercial moving companies, and people must reserve their services in advance, more than six months before moving day in some cases. During this period, moving companies work around the clock, with moving charges often being three times the normal rate.

Local nomads driven by the need of constant moving, each year on the same date they celebrate this holiday. So they don’t buy new clothes they rent new house, even that is just two houses down their street. And the July 1st is that day because of leases. Every lease expires on that day and they do not prolong contracts but young people are moving to next place.

How To Stay Ahead Of New Moving Trends?

It is an undeniable fact that technology has and is continually changing the way we do business, and has made its impact on moving industry as well. It seems that almost every day we are hearing about new startups that offer easier, cheaper, and more innovative ways to move your items.

Early adopters of these services ­include busy professionals and millennials. These are people who know they can save more of their own valuable time and money. However, similar to the pattern followed by other industries, we believe that the best companies will rise to the top and word of mouth will help others discover them.

Movers need a multi-functional product, which provides them with a sheer variety features, security, branded experience and that’s easy to master fast. What they want is one solution which offers not only video survey capabilities, but an unlimited online storage, auto scheduling, generation of prospects, simpler cubing, training and support. A product that gives complete control, improves sales productivity long-term and has a trustworthy creators behind it. We call that solution Surveybot, Crater’s industry-leading video estimate solution for the moving and transportation industries.